Chapter 52

“It’s the Seal.”

That was Hou Yuqiang’s answer after a moment of silence.

Just like in other games, NPCs had clearly defined roles and responsibilities. They wouldn’t interfere with storylines that weren’t their own, and neither would The System.

According to what he knew, every instance had a hidden Seal exclusive to a high-level NPC, signifying that the instance was their responsibility and no one else had the right to interfere.

And this Seal—it was usually found on the key item for clearing the level.

Facing Jiang Liu’s suspicious gaze, Hou Yuqiang was remarkably calm. He looked directly at her and spread his hands. “I have no reason to lie to you. You can ask around after we get out.”

This was clearly not a conventional way to clear an instance, but it had become an unspoken rule among a specific group of players. Many veterans were willing to team up and try it, a method that could be called a speedrun that disregarded points and grades.

Zhao Ziming was taken aback, scratching his head in confusion. “How come I’ve never heard of this?”

Hou Yuqiang immediately replied, “You’re still a newcomer, right? Anyone with less than six clears is a newcomer.”

Zhao Ziming was unsure and couldn’t help but look at Jiang Liu. He saw her looking down in thought, her long eyelashes hiding the expression in her eyes.

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment before Jiang Liu’s voice suddenly broke the quiet. She repeated the last few words with an ambiguous tone, “Disregarding points and grades?”

Hou Yuqiang swallowed hard and nodded, his gaze somewhat evasive.

Jiang Liu’s voice wasn’t loud, but in the quiet photo studio, it was particularly clear, ringing in everyone’s ears like an alarm bell. Her tone was deliberately emphatic, as if stressing a point.

At that moment, the seemingly slow-witted Zhu Yan suddenly reacted, pointing at him and shouting, “No, you’re lying!”

The young man’s loud cry startled Zhao Ziming, who then heard him say, “This is an Advanced Instance!”

Zhao Ziming, who had felt something was off, suddenly understood.

An Advanced Instance—only teams with a composite grade of B+ or higher could be matched into one.

If he was only after a speedrun, Hou Yuqiang wouldn’t be here at all.

He instantly realized he’d been tricked and glared at Hou Yuqiang. “You little brat, you dare to make things up!”

Seeing that things were going south, Hou Yuqiang’s eyes darted around. He rolled on the ground and sprang up, trying to escape.

He was fast, but Jiang Liu’s hands were faster.

The moment he got up, Jiang Liu’s fist was already connecting with his nose. The force of the punch was not to be underestimated. He stumbled on the spot, his head spinning and his nose bleeding profusely.

Damn, she’s for real?

That was the only thought in Hou Yuqiang’s mind.

Even after hearing from Jiang He how formidable this woman was, he had still held a bit of contempt in his heart, thinking that no matter how tough, she was still a woman. How could a physically strong man like him lose to her?

But this was just the beginning.

Jiang Liu’s fists rained down from all directions, each blow landing squarely on his face. The force was perfectly controlled, enough to cause pain but avoiding any vital points. In just a short while, Hou Yuqiang’s face was swollen like a pig’s head. His two lackeys hadn’t even processed what was happening.

“Stop, stop! I’ll talk, alright!”

He was dazed by the punches, curled up on the ground and wailing. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and confessed.

“An NPC made me do it! He told me to come in here and find something! He even gave me a pass!”

As if finally remembering, he covered his face with one hand and fumbled around with the other, handing the crumpled piece of paper he had been carrying for days to Jiang Liu. Afterward, he quickly took two steps back, afraid she would start hitting him again without reason.

This time, he had finally learned his lesson. He raised his hand and swore solemnly, “It’s true! This is the clearance clue. Originally, she gave me a Clearance Pass, but I went through a lot of trouble to trade it for a clue.”

There was a clear flaw in his statement. Zhao Ziming snorted coldly and, mimicking Jiang Liu, brandished his fist. “If you really had something as good as a Clearance Pass, why would you be willing to trade it?”

Hou Yuqiang cried out that he was wronged, turning to his lackeys to vouch for him. “I’m telling the truth! That damn thing only guarantees one person can clear the level. What about my brothers? That’s why I traded it!”

After speaking, a hint of regret appeared on his swollen, pig-like face.

If he had known this damn clue would be so cryptic and impossible to understand, he would never have traded it!

No, he would never have agreed to this damn business in the first place! It would have been much better to just survive in a Normal Instance with his men instead of coming here to suffer.

He touched his burning cheek and gasped, a new fear in his eyes as he looked at Jiang Liu.

This time, Jiang Liu found no trace of a lie on his face.

Her gaze shifted, and the two men beside him also raised their hands to testify, their legs trembling with fear. One of them complained with a mournful face, “Sis! We’re just ordinary players. If that woman hadn’t found us, we probably would never have qualified for an Advanced Instance in our lives.”

Looking at the blood that still stained the floor, his face turned pale. He swore to himself that even if he could, he would never come back again! This hellish place was far more terrifying than the previous two instances!

Zhao Ziming muttered something too quiet for anyone to hear, then turned to look at Jiang Liu.

She hadn’t said a word since a moment ago, just staring at the crumpled piece of paper in thought.

The eight large characters on it came into view. Jiang Liu repeated them in her mind, and the fog of confusion began to clear.

At the same time, she noticed a detail worthy of attention.

The characters on the note were neat and regular, in a very standard print style.

She frowned and suddenly pulled another piece of paper from the pocket of her trousers.

This action stunned the others. Hou Yuqiang asked in surprise, “You have one too?”

Weren’t these props supposed to be rare? Why did it seem like everyone had one now?

Jiang Liu ignored him and instead stroked the two pieces of paper, lost in thought.

She had found this one in the pocket of her school uniform on the first day. It had the three characters for “Teacher Yang” written neatly on it, followed by a string of numbers.

Although it was also in a regular print style, the ink marks on the paper were heavy, indicating it was handwritten. She hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time, assuming it was a note made by the student whose identity she had taken.

But looking at it now, the three characters for “Teacher Yang” were written stroke by stroke, very slowly and carefully, completely imitating the handwriting on the clue.

Yang Caisi taught third-year high school students. Why would a first-year student have her phone number?

Or was it that someone had deliberately left this for her, mimicking the format of the clue?

Countless thoughts flashed through her mind. Jiang Liu steadied herself, her gaze turning scrutinizing. “Who sent you? And what happens after you find the Seal?”

Seeing the two notes in her hand, Hou Yuqiang’s curiosity was almost bursting. He wished he could stand up and see what was written on them. His eyes were fixed on Jiang Liu’s hand. When he saw she had no intention of telling him, he reluctantly spoke—

“I don’t know. She was wearing a hat and a mask. I only know she’s a woman, quite tall, and I couldn’t see her face.”

Jiang Liu pulled over a cloth, wiped a blood-stained chair, and sat down in front of him, thinking for a moment before speaking. “Tell me everything that happened, from the moment you met her.”

Her tone was much gentler than before, but it still inexplicably put pressure on Hou Yuqiang. He suddenly realized that Jiang Liu’s seemingly gentle aura was somewhat similar to that person’s.

He didn’t dare to hide anything. After a moment of recollection, he began, “Our last instance was an Abandoned Church. There was a young girl with us at the time who said it had something to do with parallel… time, or something. We didn’t really understand.”

For some unknown reason, people who went to the church to pray started dying mysteriously after leaving, in all sorts of strange ways. But the families of the deceased didn’t try to investigate. They were even grateful for the church’s existence. As Hou Yuqiang explained it, their brains were just inexplicably messed up.

Of course, even if the families didn’t pursue it, the high death rate still attracted the attention of the local authorities, who forcibly demolished the church, leaving it to be abandoned.

Hou Yuqiang scratched his head. “At that time, we were trapped in a small room, almost certain we were going to die. Who knew that woman would suddenly appear, wearing that NPC shirt.”

It was the first time he had seen a Guide in an instance. He thought he was hallucinating from fear, but the woman spoke first. Not only was she willing to help them, but she also wanted to make a deal.

“She said she could help us arrange our instance identities, guarantee that the four of us would be teamed up, and she gave me a Clearance Pass, as long as I helped her find a mountain-like Seal in the instance.”

Hou Yuqiang gestured with his hands, looking a bit confused himself, clearly not understanding what it meant.

“That’s it?” Jiang Liu tilted her head.

He nodded vigorously. “That’s it. She didn’t say what finding that thing was for, and then we automatically cleared the instance and got out.”

Someone beside him added, “Right, she originally said that as long as we did as she said, the three of us would be able to clear safely even without a pass, but my brother thought it wasn’t safe enough, so he traded it.”

It would have been better not to trade. They studied those few words for a long time but couldn’t understand them, so they could only search back and forth for the seal she mentioned.

Hearing their words, Jiang Liu’s expression gradually grew heavy.

When asked about the woman’s features, the three of them thought for a long time and could only come up with a few sentences.

“She was quite tall, had a nice voice, and that’s it.”

A person next to Hou Yuqiang gestured towards Jiang Liu and said affirmatively, “She was probably about as tall as you.”

***

After getting Jiang Liu’s promise to help save his men, Hou Yuqiang and his group finally breathed a sigh of relief. They helped Zhao Ziming and the others clean up the mess in the photo studio. Jiang Liu didn’t get involved; instead, she sat on a relatively clean sofa with a lollipop in her mouth, rubbing her head in thought.

A few scattered papers lay on the table. It was the List of Suspended Students they had retrieved from the archives room. Comparing it with the photos, most of them should have been posted upstairs; there were only a few on the first floor.

Set Things Right, Each to Its Own Place.

What was the chaos?

If the real world was yang, then the world inside the photos was yin. The reversal of yin and yang was the chaos.

Having the ghosts in the photos be photographed again was an example of returning to one’s own place. The next thing they had to do was rescue the students inside. Jiang Liu already had a plan in mind.

The clearance clue was right in front of her, but Jiang Liu couldn’t feel happy at all. She was particularly concerned about the woman Hou Yuqiang had mentioned.

Right now, she couldn’t be completely sure that the note she had was placed by that person, but assuming this was all arranged by the mysterious woman, what was her purpose?